A Flame That Won't Go Out
by FairMaidenofRohan
Summary: Years ago, two men fight to win the heart and the love of Lily Evans. Only one can succeed, the other will be left with his undying love for her...


DISCLAIMER: I most sadly am not the complete genius behind Harry Potter and all the characters in his world. Roxy, Tatiana, Hestia, and Kate, as well as other girls and people that will appear later are of my own creation. All lyrics used are copyright by their respective bands and labels.  
  
First off, this is a story about Lily and James, but also of Lily and Tom Riddle.  
  
This is written in the first person, either from Lily, James, or Tom, hopefully you're able to figure out who. I've tried to keep events as acurate as possible, however, Tom is considerably younger than he is in the series. Some other things you may noticed have been changed, such as Dumbledore not being Headmaster when "the gang" arrives at Hogwarts. There are no chapters, I go by dates, as you will see.  
  
Please R+R, all flames accepted. I'm not planning to update until I get at least one review, so make it from you! Thanks in advance  
  
-FairMaidenOfRohan  
  
YEAR ONE.  
  
"Bet I'll beat you onto the platform, James!" my best friend Sirius yelled.  
  
"Oh yeah right!" I said, breaking into a run towards the brick barrier.  
  
"Hey, no fair!" Sirius cried, running after me, considerably slowed by laughing.  
But that was the way it had always been. Sirius Black and James Potter. We had best friends since the moment we met, a moment so far back I couldn't even remember it. It seemed like my whole life had had Sirius in it.  
The station employee glared at us, until he turned back to helping some old lady find her platform. Ignoring him, just like we always ignored adults, we raced at and through the wall, and-  
"OW!" On the floor was a sandy haired boy, pale, thin, with blue eyes. He didn't seem too angry at nearly being steam rolled by two carts though. In fact, he almost looked like he was laughing.  
"Yikes! Sorry mate, didn't see you," I apologized, panting, but calmer than before. I extended my hand down to the boy. Catching the mischievious glint in his eyes (not unlike one I often possessed) I thought he might pull me down, but instead he took and it and stood up.  
"Yeah, no kidding. It's a brick wall." Said the boy, dusting off his robes, making Sirius laugh even harder. The boy and I grinned.  
"Remus Lupin," he said, his hand forward. I shook it.  
"James Potter."  
  
"First year?"  
"Yup."  
"Same. Who's this?"  
"Name's Sirius Black," Sirius answered, holding out his hand and shaking Remus's vigorously.  
We laughed and picked up Remus's fallen trunks.  
"Hey, Sirius, what's up?" I asked as Sirius absent-mindedly dropped a trunk back on the floor.  
"Nothing."  
Following his gaze, I looked over at a group of girls standing a few yards away from us.  
"Oohh-hh. The gir-rls" I exaggerated. "Won-da if they're first years."  
Remus coughed loudly, catching on.  
"Looks like Sirius has got himself a girlfr- OW!"  
Sirius pushed me, laughing.  
I laughed too, but my laughs turned into an almost choking sound as another girl walked up to the group. But it wasn't just another girl. She had long, dark red hair and sparkling green eyes. She almost instantly began talking with the other four girls, all pretty, but nothing to her. The girl laughed, sending a wave through her hair.  
"Uh. Earth to James," Remus said, snapping his fingers in front of me. "Damn, you guys better leave one of those girls for me, or else I'll be pretty bored when you two off on a double date-"  
He got no farther, as we both pushed him onto the ground.  
"Hey!"Remus exclaimed, feigning being hurt. "Stop pushing me onto the floor, okay? That's two times today and frankly I-"  
The three of us burst out laughing. I looked back over at the girls. The red haired girl had turned in our direction. Her eyes fell upon Remus, still on the ground, lingered on Sirius, and then on me. She smiled encouragingly and then turned back to her friends.  
A little too quickly, I turned back to my own friends.  
  
***************  
  
I looked around the platform, crowded with students and parents and bags and trolleys. It all seemed surreal, this, this seconds world I had become a part of.  
A month ago I was Lily Evans, typical person. I did chores, homework, and I had two amazing best friends. But then, an owl had swooped into my house and everything had changed. Well, not everything. I still had my two best friends coming with me for the ride.  
I was the only one in my family who didn't know how to react. My parents, two of the kindest, most supportive parents in the world, were thrilled for me. My sister, however, was the opposite. I had never been close with Petunia. She was a rather unpleasant person sometimes, but she was still my sister.  
I noticed three boys near us. Three very handsome boys, all laughing. The first boy was on the floor, his blue eyes dancing with merriment. The second boy, a tall, tan boy helped him up, his dark hair falling in his face naturally. I tried to suppress a smile at how relaxed and at ease he was, temporarily forgetting my own anxiety. Then there was the third boy, average height, thin, glasses, and what had to be the untidiest hair I'd ever seen. But something about him was there.  
Then again, we were looking at each other. I smiled at him, then turned back to the girls.  
No need, for they were all looking at me.  
"What are you looking at, Lily?"  
Roxy turned around to look. So did Kate.  
The sight of three good-looking guys who also looked like they were probably first-years was too much for my best friend, Kate Caprilet. Kate had been my best friend since forever. Gorgeous, blonde, with white skin and light blue eyes, Kate always got stares from guys, if she didn't get to them first. Kate also happened to be cheerful, confident, outgoing, and spontaneous. She tended to take charge, but it was impossible not to like her.  
"Let's say hi!" Kate shrieked, marching over, with us behind her. "Are you guys first-years?"  
The boy in glasses started laughing. The tall boy pushed him jokingly.  
"Yeah, how bout you?" said the sandy-haired one, stepping forward and grinning at his two friends.  
Roxy said yeah. The two other boys had stopped laughing but were still smiling.  
"Well, I'm Kate Caprilet" Kate started, pushing herself in front of Roxy.  
"Remus Lupin" the sand haired boy replied.  
"Isn't he cute?" Kate whispered to me excitedly. I smiled at her.  
Roxy stepped up next to Kate. I had just found out a few weeks ago that Roxy, my second best friend, was a witch. Her parents were wizards. Roxy had light brown skin, from what she called her "permenant tan". She had long dark hair, and deep brown eyes; beautiful, although she would never admit it. Roxy was a more reserved Kate- hillarious, bold, smart (not that Kate wasn't), practical, and fun.  
"Roxelena Petrova, call me Roxy."  
The taller boy put on a straight, poker-like face and bowed to Roxy. "Sirius Black. At your service."  
Everyone laughed. I pushed a bit of hair back behind my shoulder. "Lily Evans" I smiled slightly at Sirius when I said it.  
"James Potter" said the boy with glasses, looking at me again. He ran a few fingers through his hair distractedly. Was he trying to straighten it or mess it up?  
Pretty Asian Hestia Damask and quiet, chesnut haired Tatiana Winslow introduced themselves. A whistle blew.  
"Well, see you around then" Sirius said, making moves to leave. Remus and James didn't look too eager to. I didn't want Sirius to leave either.  
"Yeah" Roxy said. "See you."  
"Bye girls," Tatiana walked off to join another group of girls waiting to go on the train.  
The remaining four of us boarded the bright silver engine, smoke coming out of it as if it was as impatient to leave as I was. We settled into one of the fairly spacious compartments, and started talking. about Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, and James Potter.  
  
********************  
  
"Not bad chicks, huh?" asked Remus as the girls walked off.  
"No indeed. Very nice girls" Sirius replied.  
Remus and I said last-minute good-byes to our parents; Sirius watched. I had a feeling getting away from his family was one of the best things of Hogwarts to Sirius, who hateed mostly everyone in his family, from his nagging mother, to his cousins, to his little brother Regulus.  
Judging from Regulus's attitude, I was glad to be an only child.  
The three of us boarded the train. Dismayed, we went from one crowded compartment to another.  
"James! Psst,James!" Sirius muttered. "Check out that guy over there.  
I looked at the boy Sirius had mentioned. Glaring back at me with two black, hating eyes was a yellow skinned, scrawny boy with greasiest, thinnest hair ever. His clothes were obviously secondhand, and despite how dirty he looked, he seemed to think himself important.  
"Odd chap," I commented, turning back to Sirius, and gazing around the crowded compartment once more. "Man! There is absolutely nowhere to sit!"  
"Oh really?" Remus was looking next door to the joining compartment, occupied by four first-year girls.  
  
****************  
"Stupid bitch," I muttered, rushing onto the Hogwarts Express. Probably the last one aboard, and lucky to even be on the stupid thing.  
Not even in a compartment yet, I realized how hard it was going to be to find a place to sit. If only that damned woman from that Muggle hellhole could drive faster than a snail could walk.  
A fresh surge of hatred swept over me, just like it always did when I thought of the orphanage. St. Mary's, that filthy Muggle orphanage for "needy children". I was not a needy child. I was the Heir of Salazaar Slytherin, yet for eleven years I had been treated as nothing, ignored and taunted by the people surrounding me, as if I was the inferior one.  
My mother had died in birth.my birth. She had died alone. My stupid, dirty Muggle father had insured that, when he left her pregnant and hid with his family. A coward, who had never done anything he should have done for his son. Luckily my mother had left me a letter, so I didn't grow up completely ignorant to who I was, Heir to one of the greatest wizards who ever lived.  
Still thinking angrily about the man who was not a father to me, I walked into the seemingly only compartment with any space in it.  
Just my luck, the only empty compartment was occupied by seven first- years.  
  
**********  
  
I glanced around the compartment, feeling a little lonely. Remus and Kate were talking animatedly to each other, I had given up joining in their conversation awhile ago. Sirius, I noticed, with a slight pang of jealousy, had sat himself next to Roxy. But almost before it had happened, the feeling of envy of gone. James and Hestia were talking, although Hestia was doing more of the talking. As I looked at James, he seemed miles away.  
The compartment door slid open unexpectedly. In walked a pale, handsome boy, thin and tall, with black hair. I noticed how his clothes seemed used, but they fit, as if anything else would have seemed out of place. His grey eyes swept across the area, taking in everything, seeming to be piercing anything he looked on.  
I wondered, causing myself to jump slightly, what it would feel like to be staring into those eyes.  
Could anyone rest them? Could anyone resist him?  
"Er. mind if I sit in here?" he said, bringing me back out of space, not sounding pleased with the situation.  
"Sure," Remus shrugged, and turned back to Kate.  
He walked up to me. My heart race sped up slightly.  
"This seat taken?"  
"Oh! No, no, take it" I rushed awkwardly. I smiled hurriedly and quickly moved the things I had put on the seat.  
You idiot! Why are you so stupid?  
After a brief silence, he began talking.  
  
******  
  
I sat down next to the girl with blood-red hair. And green eyes. The eyes threw me off guard. Bright green and shining, I found myself constantly staring back at them. She had moon-white skin, like mine, and I realized that she was actually prettier than almost all the girls in my year.  
"So, you're a first year?" I asked, compelled to learn some more.  
"Yeah, I'm so nervous" she said, looking embarassed and staring down at her hands. Without knowing why, my heart went out to this pretty little redhead. Without thinking, I reach out my hand and put it on top of hers.  
"Don't be." She smiled. That smile touched every part of me, like a bit of warmth on a cold day. I smiled back at her.  
What's going on with you, Tom?  
Her name was Lily Evans, and I was enjoying the train ride a lot more than I thought I would. 


End file.
